"I’d always been quite politically minded, so I went to my local party office and got involved."
At 25 I'm one of the youngest councillors in my borough. When I came back from university I wanted to build a social life and a circle of friends locally and because, I'd always been quite politically minded, I went to my local party office and got involved.
I do most of my council work electronically which helps because I work long hours as an accountant. But I've got a brilliant secretary at the town hall who supports me really well. In my borough all the councillors have secretarial support. When I first started I was incredibly inefficient because I didn't use the support staff at the town hall but once you know what to do and how to do it you become much more efficient.
I probably have to attend an average of one meeting a week if you include all the committee meetings and the meetings with my political group. I used to hold drop-in sessions for constituents but I find most people are quite happy to give me a call if they've got a problem they want help with. I'm contacted about three or four times a week by constituents.
When you're in office people expect you to have an opinion. The first few years are a very intensive learning curve but I think I could have been bolder and more opinionated at the beginning. I've learnt not to get too emotionally involved in individual cases too - you need to be able to stand back and see the bigger picture rather than getting drawn into the emotive side of things.
